What a storm we had yesterday!! I was home the whole day and had no idea of what flooding and damage some people were experiencing. In my area, we only had heavy rain, thunder and lightning. Other places had massive hailstones that broke car windows and destroyed the siding on houses. Cars and other vehicles were floating on Deerfoot Trail and no doubt there was bad flooding in many other areas, too. Apparently, a tornado touched down for a couple of minutes in SE Calgary. In some areas, it looked like winter, with the ground white with hailstones. This is going to be a very costly storm!
www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/calgary-thunderstorm-1.561...
The six photo I have posted this morning, 14 June 2020, are the last few taken on my drive north of the city three days ago. The photo above was taken on my way home, when I drove a couple of my 'usual' backroads just to check what birds were around. Practically nothing : ) You can always be sure, though, that there will be a Red-winged Blackbird.
Sunday, 14 June 2020: our temperature around noon is 17C (windchill 17C). Sunrise is at 5:20 am, and sunset is at 9:52 pm. Cloudy with some dark grey clouds forming.
My main purpose for going for a drive on 11 June 2020 was to find and photograph the old, faded barn seen in one of the photos I posted today. I had hoped to get up north of the city to see it last year, but it just didn't happen. Also, I had noticed that rain is forecast for many of the coming days, so I wanted to make the most of a sunny day.
A Great Gray Owl was a very unexpected sighting on this trip, and such a treat. I didn't notice it until I had just driven past it. Wondering if it might fly, I reversed the car very slowly, but, to my relief, it was still sitting on the fence post. After just a few minutes of turning its head to one side or another, it turned to look across the field of glorious Dandelions behind it. I don't know if it had a nest in the trees, but maybe it heard its mate or a young one calling. Whatever it was, it resulted in take-off.
Last year, 2019, I didn't see any Great Gray Owls. In March 2018, I had better luck. In 2017, I saw one on our May Species Count. 2016 was a great year for these owls. Various views in the years before 2016.
After taking a few photos of the barn (from the road), I continued my drive and, a short while later, got lost. It was while trying to find my way to some familiar road that I came across the owl. Sometimes, getting lost brings something wonderful, that you would have otherwise missed.
